The present invention relates to a fuel supply module mounting structure for a fuel tank.
Attempts have heretofore been made to provide a fuel supply module, comprised of a case of an upper open-ended type in which a pump is contained, which is suspended from an upper plate mounted to a fuel tank having its upper end formed with an opening which is concealed with the upper plate, with the fuel supply module being supported with a bottom wall portion of the fuel tank (see Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-214825 which discloses a similar related art). It is structured that a bottom wall of the fuel supply module is continuously held in abutting contact with the bottom wall portion of the fuel tank for vertical movements upon an aid of an own weight of the fuel supply module and an urging member exerting the same downward for permitting fuel to be reliably drawn from an area near the bottom wall portion of the fuel tank. Factors under which the bottom wall portion of the fuel tank is vertically moved include variations in internal pressure of the fuel tank or interference between the bottom wall portion of the fuel tank and projections on a road surface.
Further, there are some instances where valves (such as a vent valve and a cut valve) for treating evaporated fuel are mounted to the upper plate from which the fuel supply module is suspended. These valves are mounted to the upper plate in such a way that they protrude downward from the upper plate into the fuel tank. Thus, the provision of the valves disposed in the fuel tank from an initial time enables the evaporated fuel to be treated in an efficient manner.
However, with the structure of such a related art, the evaporated fuel treatment valves are mounted to the upper plate, from which the fuel supply module is suspended for free movements in a vertically variable stroke, so as to downwardly protrude into the fuel tank, resulting in a risk of interference of the valves with the hard pump inside the fuel supply module when the fuel supply module is excessively raised by a value beyond a given amount of stroke. To this end, it is required for the related art structure to enhance a large amount of vertical space between the valves and the fuel supply module in order to avoid the interference between the valves and the fuel supply module, resulting in a difficulty in placing both the fuel supply module and the valves in the fuel tank with a small vertical dimension.
The present invention has been made with the above view in mind and has an object of the present invention to provide a fuel supply mounting structure which is able to locate both a fuel supply module and valves into a fuel tank even with a small vertical dimension.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel supply module mounting structure for a fuel tank having an upper plate supporting a downwardly extending valve to treat evaporated fuel, the fuel supply module mounting structure comprising: a fuel supply module having a case and a pump disposed therein to draw fuel from a fuel tank; and a tilting mechanism disposed between an upper plate of a fuel tank and the fuel supply module and including a guide member suspended from the upper plate and extending toward the fuel supply module and a follower member guided with the guide member to permit the fuel supply module to be normally moveable closer to and away from the upper plate in a freely variable stroke; wherein the guide member and the follower member of the tilting mechanism are operative to cause the fuel supply module to be tilted in a direction to be separated away from a downwardly extending valve in response to an external force exerted to the fuel supply module during an upward movement of a bottom wall portion of the fuel tank.
With such a structure set forth above, the tilting mechanism is normally operative to permit vertical movements of the fuel supply module within the fuel tank in dependence on upward movement of the bottom wall of the fuel tank. As the fuel supply module reaches the uppermost limit position, the tilting mechanism is further operative to permit the fuel supply module to be tilted in the direction away from the downwardly extending valve due to the external force exerted to the bottom end of the fuel supply module. Thus, the fuel supply module is enabled to be moveable within the fuel tank to assume a desired operative position to draw fuel therefrom at the highest performance without conflicting the downwardly extending valve. The fuel supply module mounting structure has a compact structure and is low in manufacturing cost.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel supply module mounting structure for a fuel tank having an upper plate supporting a downwardly extending valve to treat evaporated fuel, the fuel supply module mounting structure comprising: a fuel supply module having a case and a pump disposed therein to draw fuel from a fuel tank; and a tilting mechanism disposed between an upper plate of a fuel tank and the fuel supply module and including guide means suspended from the upper plate and extending toward the fuel supply module and follower means guided with the guide means to permit the fuel supply module to be normally moveable closer to and away from the upper plate in a freely variable stroke; wherein the guide means and the follower means are operative to cause the fuel supply module to be tilted in a direction to be separated away from a downwardly extending valve in response to an external force exerted to the fuel supply module during an upward movement of a bottom wall portion of the fuel tank.